Come Home to Cradock 2003

DESCENDENT
OF CRADOCK NAMESAKE TO ATTEND HOMECOMING

Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA) - October
5, 2003

Author: IDA KAY JORDAN THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

Corran
Cradock
Laurens, the great-great niece of the British naval hero for
whom Cradock was named, will be a special
guest at the community's Oct. 16-18 celebration of the 85th
anniversary of the World War I planned community.

Built by the federal government to house shipyard workers
coming to Portsmouth for defense jobs, it was named in honor
of Sir Christopher Cradock , a British
admiral who went down with his ship in a 1914 confrontation
with the German squadron led by Adm. Graf Spee.

Laurens will journey from Cowes in Isle of Wight, England,
for the annual gathering known as "Come Home to
Cradock ," an event sponsored by the Alumni and
Friends of Cradock .

Contact with Laurens began when the 55-year-old English
woman was surfing the net and discovered there was a
Portsmouth in Virginia, said Bev Sell, a Norfolk resident
who is president of the alumni group.

"She lives near Portsmouth, England, and she contacted the
city for more information," Sell said. "Then she found out
there was a community named for her ancestor."

Becky Myers Cutchins, a Cradock High School
graduate who works in the Portsmouth Convention and Visitors
Bureau, put Laurens in touch with Sell and they began an
e-mail correspondence about six months ago.

Laurens, who has a doctorate in contemporary French history
from the University of Southampton, has been a teacher and
art curator.

Among her special interests are maritime history and
sailing. That gives her two reasons, in addition to the
Cradock celebration, for planning to spend
five days in Portsmouth.

A reception for Laurens will be held at the Renaissance
Portsmouth Hotel and Waterfront Conference Center with city,
state and military dignitaries invited to meet the
descendent of the community's namesake. While the party is
"by invitation only," others who want to attend may ask for
a bid.

Laurens will be the center of attention on Saturday, when
she will cut an 85th anniversary cake, big enough to serve
all who show up at the Afton Square party. A paver honoring
the special guest will be installed in front of the gazebo
by the Cradock Preservation and
Revitalization Group. She'll be honored with a mini concert
by former Cradock choral members led by
Harriett Heath, a retired choral teacher. They'll sing the
British national anthem as well as the Star-Spangled Banner
and the Cradock alma mater.

Laurens, wearing a homecoming mum in the old school colors,
also will be the marshal for a homecoming parade down Afton
Parkway.

The outdoor Saturday celebration on the square will start at
noon and continue through the afternoon with Bluegrass music
noon to 3 p.m. by Amy Ferebee and Charlie Austin. Tables for
each decade will be set up under a tent so it will be easy
for those who attended school together to find each other.

A Classic Car Show, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., promises much
conversation. But, for those not into cars, the committee
will display " Cradock trivia" in
storefront windows, while exhibits of
Cradock
architecture and other memorabilia will be set up in the
Community Center.

The nostalgia will continue Saturday night with a party at
the old high school with food from Rodman's, the venerable
barbecue vendor with a place in everybody's memory because
of its one-time drive-in, a favorite hangout for teenagers.
The dinner will feature roasted oysters as well as barbecue
and chicken, all with Rodman's corn bread.

Gary Lassiter, a local DJ, will be spinning sounds from the
past 50 years for dancing. Coach Richard Huneycutt will show
old football videos of Cradock games.

Party-goers have been encouraged to dress in gold and
maroon, the school colors, and a contest to pick those who
best display the Cradock Spirit is
scheduled at 9 p.m.

The committee is pulling out all the stops for this fifth
annual homecoming that usually draws hundreds of folks,
especially those who graduated from
Cradock
High. In years past, as many as 1,200 have shown up.

"The high school classes plan their reunions around it,"
Carol Galford Edwards of Virginia Beach said. For instance,
the Class of' '53 will have a half-century gathering this
year and others with dates ending in three also will be on
hand.

The ties among Cradock grads are strong,
she said.

"A lot of us still hang around together," Edwards noted.
"This year a group of us have been celebrating every time
somebody has a 60th birthday."

The old school ties will be most evident at the Friday night
event dubbed a "Welcome Pep Rally." Cheerleaders, band
members and majorettes of all ages will be strutting their
talents. Athletes, class presidents, faculty members and
"other notables" will be recognized. The "Dutch treat" party
on the second floor of Paddy O'Brian's in Olde Towne will be
open to all with ties to the community, not just old grads.

All events are open to the public. The committee has
emphasized that not only alumni of the school should attend
but also everybody who ever lived in
Cradock
, ran a business there or attended one of the community's
five churches, "all who have a connection to
Cradock
."

"We will honor those who started and have carried on the
Cradock Spirit," the invitation reads.